Wanted
by Seeker95
Summary: Fang is an agent for Itex who lost his partner and has built an impenetrable wall around himself. Max is a criminal with a tortured past who is recruited by Itex for a case involving her deceased father, Jeb. How will the two ever make it out of this alive?
Fang lay on the concrete, wet and sticky with his blood. HIs arms and legs are sprawled out like a broken doll, and he watches the soot and ash rain over him. Spots of fires surround him, and he feels the heat despite the numbness. The ambulance is just now arriving. The sirens a dull sound against the ringing in his ears. From far away, he heard his Captain's voice in his head, "Where's Gazzy?"

His partner had been sitting right next to him. Where was Gazzy? Fang turned his head, and his stomach sunk at the sight. His partner lay twisted in the oddest of positions two yards from him. With a sudden surge of adrenaline, Fang pulled a piece of metal out of his side and dragged himself to Gazzy. He placed a hand on Gazzy's neck feeling for a pulse, stirring him awake. With a heavy groan, he turned to face Fang, who had to swallow his curse. Blood dripped from Gazzy's ears, nose, and lips. He was choking on it.

"Hang on," Fang told him, forcing my voice to be steady. "Think about your girls. You can't leave them behind."

HIs eyes were glassy and wild and round and filled with fear. "I can't feel anything," he managed through the blood. Fang grit my teeth and squeezed his arm.

"You'll be alright, Gazzy. Just hang on."

Blood continued to spill from his lips, and he continued to gasp for breath. His eyes never left Fang's, but he was slipping.

"Where's the fucking paramedic?" Fang shouted over the mess. With a painful twist, he saw Captain running over with two men carrying a stretcher. Idiots, he thought. When he once again faced Gazzy, the choking had stopped.

When Fang woke again, he knew two things. First, he was going to live. Second, he would never see Gazzy again. Captain sat next to his bed with his face buried in his hands. When Fang first started working for him, he had a head full of dark hair. Now, the white invaded in masses, and he had aged a million years.

"I'm sorry, sir," Fang whispered. Captain heard and glanced up, but he wasn't sure Fang was speaking to him. Even when he placed a hand on Fang's shoulder, Fang's eyes remained fixated on the ceiling tiles. He forgives you, Captain wanted to tell Fang, but he hesitated. Fang wouldn't believe him.

Fang limped up to the podium at Gazzy's funeral and cleared his throat. "Gazzy," he began. "Gazzy was a great partner, loyal and selfless. He always had my back, and I trusted him with my life. We were all lucky to have had the priviledge to know him."

He could have said so much more. He could have written a book for all the times Gazzy saved his ass, for all the reasons why Gazzy didn't deserve to die, for all the ways Gazzy was his friend, but none of that would do him justice.

"Fang," Gazzy's wife caught up to him. She carried a baby on her right side and held a 5 year old's hand with her left. Fang stared at her nose instead of her eyes. "Thank you." His chest constricted. "You were family to Gazzy, and he really cared about you, so thank you for taking care of him."

How could she even say that? Couldn't she see he failed her husband?

"Take care, Lilly. Let me know if you need anything," Fang meant every word, yet his voice was stone. She was shocked by his mannerism, but she softened in understanding and nodded. Finally feeling dismissed, Fang allowed himself to be swallowed in his thoughts.

It should've been him.

Captain was always behind on his paperwork, but he might actually catch up tonight. He hadn't slept properly in days, and he wasn't going to waste his time awake pacing. Signing papers was just as mind-numbing anyways, if not more so.

The funeral had been exceptionally difficult to sit through, and more than once, he felt like he would just keel over and vomit. No doubt Fang was in the same position, if not worse, living with survivor's guilt, so he wasn't surprised when Fang walked into his office at 3 AM with an envelope in hand.

All Fang got was one look and a very straightforward, "no."

"Excuse me, sir?" Fang wasn't surprised that Captain wasn't surprised but at the rejection. Was that even allowed?

"You're not throwing away your career in law enforcement because you lost a partner. This is who you are."

"I don't want to be in law enforcement anymore." Fang was even more shocked to find Captain speaking of the incident as if Gazzy was a stranger.

"Yes you do," Captain stated matter-of-factly. "You would rot without your job."

Captain sighed and lifted his head tiredly to face Fang. "Listen, Fang. Losing a partner is not a reason to quit. It's a reason to keep going, because you can't let Gazzy die in vain. If his ghost was here right now, he'd slap the shit out of you for even thinking about quitting."

Fang took in Captain's haggard looks and under eye bags and knew Captain was suffering just as much as he was. Of course he was. He loved Gazzy just as much, and Gazzy was a son to him.

"You know I'm right," Captain added when Fang didn't respond and turned his attention back to the papers on his desk. "Take a year off. Go travel and find meaning in life again. Do whatever you've got to do, and then come back."

"What if I don't come back?"

Captain chuckled. "You'll never live a life in peace. I'll have agents on your ass everyday. Don't forget who my friends are. I'll see you in a year, agent."

 **Present Day**

"Come on, big guy. Come at me," I taunted the beefy monster in front of me. He stood twice my height and twice my weight, but so far he hadn't been able to catch me. Classic fatty with anger issues. He stomped his two feet, and the ground shook. I slid between them and kicked off from the brick wall to gain height and power. My foot connected with his face, and blood spurted from his nose. He groaned and stumbled backwards. The audience surrounding the ditch went mad.

"Should I finish him?" I shouted over the masses.

Again, they roared.

"Looks like you've met your match," I told my competitor as I twisted one of his arms behind his back and slammed him against the wall. My elbow connected with an adjoining nerve between his neck and shoulder blades. He yelped as the temporary paralysis traveled through him. The man was too heavy for me to throw him anywhere, but I placed a foot by his and tugged. Down he tumbled, landing with a small splash in the mud water. I wrapped my legs around his neck and hugged his arm against my chest.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5," I counted out loud with the people before releasing him and raising my arms in victory. "Fuck yeah!" I shouted and pumped my fists. Man did winning feel good.

"Alright, who's next?" I asked. The roaring continued, and then it suddenly stopped. "What?"

The crowd parted as two men with badges wandered to the edge of the pit. "We are," they had guns pointed at me. "Maximum Ride, you're under arrest…"

"Sorry boys," I interrupted before they could finish. "I'm not going anywhere without a fight." The underground erupted in cheers again.

"This is not a game. Come out of that pit," man in black number 1 said, his gun still aimed at my head.

I crossed my arms. "You'll waste more time trying to handcuff me from up there than just fighting me."

The two exchanged annoyed glances before leaping into the pit. "This shouldn't take long," one said to the other.

"Let's have some fun while we're at it," the other responded. I smiled mentally at their cockiness and took a deep breath. I could hear their breaths, feel their heart beating. Man in black number 1 struck with his fists, and I blocked with my arms. I dodged number 2's kicks, and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of his face. He stumbled back with an off as I felt my other fist collide with number 1's stomach. We advanced to the edge of the pit where heads hit the walls. Muddy water splashed with every move so that I was drenched, and arms became too slick to grab. Bloody noses and black eyes and split lips. My wrist might've been broken. For a single second, I lost touch with their breathing, and I was knocked onto the ground of the pit. I wasn't finished, just wearing out, but before I could get back to my feet, the men in black pulled out a taser gun and aimed.

I didn't even have time to escape the water, before the pain hit my back and shot through my veins. I bit my tongue to prevent from screaming, and my body spasmed as the shock continued to course through me like lightening.

"Not fair," I heard myself say through my grit teeth before the black claimed me.

 **"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." - Leonardo da Vinci**

 **Thanks for reading! Until next time...**

 **Seeker95**


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